Employee Experience in the Ageof the Everywhere Workplace: 		Why IT Needs to Lead the Charge

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It was an abrupt and, in many cases, overnight shift.

Early-stage shifts to remote work, though, wereIT builds the robust foundations that virtually everyWorldwide, companies sent millions of employees

just the beginning of IT’s recent evolution. Now, asemployee experience builds off — knowing that thehome as COVID-19 closures rolled out — and IT

companies grapple with the impact of the “Great

gap between employee success widens withoutteams rushed to find immediate solutions to ensure

Reassessment” and “Great Resignation,” there’s a newhighly-optimized, always-on and universally-intuitive

organizations stayed productive.

mandate: rethink the employee experience throughtech.

Two years later remote work has only increased, as
IT teams find new ways to power every employee
experience, no matter where, when and how businesshappens. Software, devices and networks ensurehigh-value, high-tech touchpoints. In other words,
build out dynamic digital employee experiences that
support this real-time demand for greater employee
autonomy, including radical flexibility.

Building the foundation for a positive, productive
workplace environment now ladders directly to IT. IT isthe critical owner of the modern employee experience,and these strategic responsibilities are only going to

critical connections stay intact and that employees

And architecting this modern landscape lands squarely

increase and accelerate — and IT leaders must seize

can continue getting work done successfully, while

in IT’s court. Move over, HR — or, at the very least,

the opportunity.

modern apps and integrations have made video

make some serious room at the table for your IT

conferencing and global collaboration everyday

partners. Because more than ever, IT is leading thehappenings — again, all thanks to IT.

employee experience charge.

With these more profound and more public initiatives,

Think about it.

IT also gained greater visibility among both employees
and C-suite leadership. This was a significant
differentiator during these last two years and brought
about a more dynamic climate for IT teams to evolve
their core functions and step into a more strategic,
business-building role.

This ebook unpacks the marketplace shifts andemerging trends driving the demand for improved
employee experience, and the unique role IT nowplays. By understanding the forces shifting our

IT is responsible for coordinating and optimizing rich,seamless “everywhere” workplaces that empower
employees.

collective business environment and how technologies
like AI and automation are increasingly playing a rolein experience delivery, you’ll be better equipped tochampion your team through this ongoing evolution

IT determines and rolls out the platforms, apps andexperiences that keep workers connected, whether— and, with it, amplify IT’s influence within yourorganization.

they’re in the conference room or a local coffee shop.

Employee Experience in the Age of the Everywhere Workplace: Why IT Needs to Lead the Charge | EBOOK

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IT’s evolving — and fast-growing —role in the new business landscape
While the initial shift to remote work created atsunami of immediate IT demands and increased
troubleshooting, the Everywhere Workplace is now
the norm. Now, companies are ready for their nexthigh-tech transformations, centering around employeeexperience.
However, this shift isn’t as well-defined as traditional
HR-driven employee experience initiatives. HR teams
typically focus on well-defined cultural needs such as
helping employees achieve better work/life balance,
boosting recognition opportunities or cultivating abetter sense of belonging and inclusion.
While no small task, these initiatives tend to come withpriorities, as well as employee hurdles to success. With
this information, IT teams can create conditions that
support employee experience needs and organizational
KPIs. For example:■ Is productivity lagging as more and more employees

shift to remote or hybrid work?
■ Has turnover increased, despite added flexibility?
■ Have KPIs such as a time to market, sell-through rates

or recruitment been impacted in recent months?
These are just a few potential high-level concerns. By
digging into these organizational needs, you and yourIT team will be well-positioned to create experiencestrategies and technology frameworks that solve some ofyour company’s biggest challenges — and will be able totie them back to what matters most.

specific goals and KPIs that can be gauged throughsurveys and online reviews, for example, or tied back torecruitment and retention data.

Evaluating IT initiatives through thelens of employee experience

There’s no well-defined roadmap to a successful digital

Again, the shift to IT as the central employee experience

employee experience, though, or even guardrails
for what constitutes “good.” That, though, shouldn’t
prevent you or your team from pushing ahead andidentifying ways to improve employee experience andpublicly tie your work to broader-reaching goals like
employee satisfaction and retention.
Doing that starts by taking a step back andunderstanding high-level organizational needs anddriver is relatively new. As a result, there’s no go-to
playbook that defines what a good digital employee
experience looks like. However, there are several key
characteristics that ensure IT initiatives support top-levelneeds and goals. With a shortlist of potential IT solutions
and tools in place, it’s important to evaluate them against
these qualities — productivity, contextualization andsecurity — before putting them in motion.

Employee Experience in the Age of the Everywhere Workplace: Why IT Needs to Lead the Charge | EBOOK

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Productivity: Does this new
initiative support, enhance orimprove employee productivity?

While this may sound like table stakes, manyorganizations aren’t there yet. Seventy-two percent
of employees say they can’t find the information they3

Security: Is this new initiative
secure — for both the employee
and the organization as a whole?

Employees need to have the same level of productivity

need with their company’s current systems. For many,

Though it may not be top-of-mind for employees,— and success — whether they’re in the office oreven basic connectivity continues to be a problem.

security is front-and-center for employers. Despite mostout. For example, suppose a remote employee can’t
access a file, connect with a colleague, route workfor review or take another key next step. In that case,it’s problematic — and it’s not a positive employee
experience for that individual and those internal andhaving cybersecurity defense plans, the overwhelming

2Contextualization: Does this new
initiative support omnichannel
employee experiences andpreferences?

majority of global organizations were hit with at least
one cybersecurity incident in the past year. With
increased supply chain vulnerabilities — and with that,a boom in cyberattacks and ransomware — companies

external stakeholders directly impacted by their stalled

Whether remote or not, your employees move

are investing more in integrated risk management andworkflow.

between devices and platforms throughout theinterdisciplinary cyber capabilities to keep networks andworkday — 74% report using two or more, and 52%

sensitive data secure.

Employees — whether they’re in the office or out —expect a seamless workplace experience. They want
to log on and have instant access to everything they

say they use at least three. Additionally, on average,
employees interact with 11.5 systems regularly.

As your team assesses technologies and solutions,it’s important to consider security. Mobile apps, cloudneed to keep their tasks moving forward. IT teams

By enabling employees to move seamlessly between

computing and the increase in bring-your-own-devicesneed to be prepared to support those needs, no matterdevices and platforms, individuals and teams can(BYOD) have expanded attack surfaces and, with that,the device, platform or location. Self-service options

be more productive, no matter their immediate or

the need for stronger access controls. Though important,such as training videos, troubleshooting how-tos or

preferred environments. For example, suppose thatthese additional security measures can slow employees

even automated help via chatbots or virtual assistants

an employee creates a shared design file and routes

down, and create less-than-optimal experiences. A

facilitate greater productivity by ensuring employees

it for review and feedback via an internal project

forgotten password or lack of access to specific files canhave instant, 24/7 support, without the wait.

management tool. In that case, they expect to be

curb productivity while IT resolves the issue.

Omnichannel and asynchronous communication canalso help support employee flexibility and experience.
With “flexibility” encompassing not just whereable to access that file, review feedback and continue
sharing from their mobile device later — without lag,multiple profiles or having to start over.

That said, while these measures are important toconsider, IT needs to strike a balance between
security, productivity and convenience. Complicatedemployees work but also when, asynchronous andEnsuring employees have this experience means

authentication, faulty remote log-ins and lack of accesscross-channel communication ensure all stakeholders

identifying and integrating tools and applications

to essential information, for example, are poor employee

can engage and move work forward on their preferredthat work seamlessly across multiple device types.

experiences that hinder productivity. Added security

platform on their schedules. This supports the pushSeventy-one percent of employees say they want “themust be frictionless and easily work across devices,

for broader flexibility — and, with it, a better employee

same level of technology at work — simple, intuitive

platforms and access points, ensuring 24/7 access toexperience.

and easy — as they have in their personal lives.”

remote employees.

Employee Experience in the Age of the Everywhere Workplace: Why IT Needs to Lead the Charge | EBOOK

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So…what does it take to provide
the right digital experience foremployees?
This new vision for IT is powerful. But, with teams
stretched thin and the constant, ongoing need tocontinue supporting remote and hybrid workplaces,
leading the employee experience charge can seem likea tall order.
And it is. This shift also puts a big, bright spotlighton IT teams and their ability to strategize, executeand support constantly evolving organizational and■ Move from a manual incident resolution processof a service desk analyst. The more comfortable

to automation-augmented service management,

employees become with self-service options like

especially for lower-value manual tasks with high ticket

this, the more it can also reduce their reliance on

volume. By automating common, lower-value IT service

analysts’ time and efforts, driving cost savings.

desk requests — browser optimization or password
resets, for example — IT teams can ensure moreproactive resolutions and simplified service delivery.
To get started, analyze data from the incident andrequest management system and see what truly
requires human intervention and what could beautomated.

employee experience demands

With an automated system in place, employees canThat said, this powerful vision is extremely achievable,

fulfilled immediately via automation rather than waiting

and it starts by integrating the right tools —specifically, AI and intelligent automation. Not only
can AI and automation take pressure off tapped-out IT
teams, but the right automated workflows can create
better employee experiences — smoother interactions,
greater self-service and faster incident resolution, forstarters.
While 67% of decision-makers say they’ve accelerated
plans or increased automated IT service offerings
adoption because of the pandemic, if your teamor company is new to AI and automation, there areplenty of ways to start small or build on your existing
foundation. Some examples:

initiate service requests, and those requests can befor the service desk.

■ Implement self-healing and self-securing

automation to proactively monitor and resolve
incidents. For example, a bot could detect a lowperforming browser and make updates in thebackground while the employee works, with nohuman interaction required.
■ Apply intelligent routing for support requests via

multiple channels. These processes leverage AI
to direct employee requests to the right service
agent, IT support or self-service portal, no manual■ Integrate intelligent chatbots or virtual IT assistants to

help employees self-serve, and/or to help IT analysts
speed incident resolution.

review required. This minimizes the number ofsteps and IT resources involved, speeding time toresolution.

Often employees don’t know exactly what service
or support they need — but they know they need
IT. This AI-powered virtual support agent points
users to potential solutions to their issues based on
keywords or common help phrases — then can point
employees to a video walk-through or simple steps
to troubleshoot. This not only curbs an employee’s
downtime and helps them get back to work faster, but
it eliminates the need for first-line support engagement

Employee Experience in the Age of the Everywhere Workplace: Why IT Needs to Lead the Charge | EBOOK5These initiatives can significantly impact both yourBy touting not just the new initiatives but, with that,

IT teams and outside employees without overhaulingtheir direct impact on KPIs — retention, recruitment andexisting IT infrastructure or reimagining employee

productivity, for example, as well as bottom-line impact

workflows — and drive meaningful, measurable— your team and your work will gain greater traction,results. Fifty-five percent of IT teams say they saveconsideration and organizational support.

one to eight hours per service request due to thisincreased automation. Twelve percent say they save
one to two days per request.

That’s key, considering remote work, hybrid workplaces
and the employee experience mandates continue toevolve — and aren’t going anywhere soon. This opens

With AI and automation in place, the next step is toa tremendous opportunity for IT to step in, step up andconnect your work to organization KPIs. By spendingarchitect game-changing digital employee experiences.

upfront time understanding organizational goals, it’s

In doing so, IT leaders and teams can ideate and build

easy to tie these smart deployments to KPIs, betterout dynamic workplaces that support the right-now

quantifying their value beyond IT.

needs of employees, while architecting a framework

Armed with these data-driven connections, the next
step is to evangelize every win. Too often, C-level
decision-makers and other critical stakeholders
are unaware of the impact IT initiatives have on theoverarching organization—85% of CEOs, for example,
say their company accelerated digital initiatives during
the pandemic. However, the majority can’t explain
their strategy or progress — they just know an ITinvestment was made.

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for what comes next — environments that elevate thedigital employee experience and shine a bright light on
IT leaders and teams orchestrating these high-value
experiences.

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